Can anyone show me some close up photos of the early Pope filter cap that fit on the top of the snorkel. I haven't been able to find an original so will try to make one that looks similar. I only have diagrams and one old photo, but they do not show it very clearly. Seems it also contained a small round felt filter of some description. It looks a bit like a polypipe fitting stuck on the end. Haha! (The main filter was housed down in that cylinder affair where the snorkel connects to carby, so essentially it had a pre-filter at the top and main filter closer to carby.)
Made one yesterday out of some modern plumbing fittings.
25mm brass threaded-barbed connector, 25mm galvanized end cap, three copper sump washers, a rubber 0-ring, bit of stainless steel filter mesh cut into a circle.
Drilled large hole in top of end cap, filed out leaving a few mm flange on edges, dropped in an o-ring slightly larger than hole, pushed in piece of mesh filter, dropped in three copper sump washers, screwed tight onto barbed connector, all done!
Can be easily screwed apart for cleaning etc. Looks and functions pretty much the same as original. Will do until the real thing can be found. :-)
I was thinking about making one from copper pipe, as one Pope I have is missing the filter. , Should work well and look good, the one you just made Vm.
The price of second hand Victa filters you may as well make them from stainless these days.
Hi Max, Be interested to know how you have made that stainless filter. I agree, the cost of those very fragile and breakable ones being sold online is horrendous to the point of being ridiculous. I've seen those small plastic filters fetching well over $100 each on auction sites - for something that was arguably made cheap and very poor quality in the first place.
It looks like that cap is something from a hot rod shop and I'd bet the snorkel is made from braided radiator hose from the same place. I used to go into a couple of them and there were piles of shiny chrome and polished parts just like that.
I’m no hot rodder but you used to be able to get bits and pieces in some of those places that could be adapted for more utilitarian purposes. The quality was all over the place but at least in a rod shop you could handle the part and make a more accurate assessment. I’ve taken quite a few bits and pieces and used them as components in projects. By the time I’d finished they didn’t bear much resemblance to the original.
Rodders used to be very particular about having hoses and fittings that conformed to certain pathways in vehicles so the shops would sell a huge range of angled fittings for example.
Yeah that hot rod mower is a bit "over the top". I prefer a more original look for my restorations. In years past, just as today, the companies were trying to make utilitarian products that were cheap but effective. So with that in mind, replacing it with something similar available today is the best solution.
I have been replacing the old Victa top caps with these. They are fairly cheap and available everywhere. They look similar to original too. You also get a hose clamp! Apparently they are diesel heater intake filters or something of that nature... https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/203974704790
